


and i'll fall in line

by wavesofthewater



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 07:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15836457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wavesofthewater/pseuds/wavesofthewater
Summary: in which tyler and josh live in the same building, drunkenly hook up, and josh becomes more and more fascinated with the boy he met from the party.





	1. day zero⇅hello.

tyler sharply inhaled. ran his fingertips against smooth, cold metal, rough, chilled lumber. he backed away gingerly from the platform, mentally waving farewell to the blue-green-black waves that breathed below him. he watched the lights glow, flicker in the distance. felt the air thinning. expanding. his lungs, his heart moving in rhythm.

and he exhaled.

"hi. what are you doing here?" he asked, as sweetly as his shadowy, scream-tinged throat would allow.

"i want to know you," the red-haired figure replied.


	2. day five⇅petrified.

it was 1:38 a.m., may 30th, and joshua dun was bored. he chewed on his pencil's eraser, mentally substituting the polymer for his every stressor. he sat at the rickety desk of his apartment, the one the landlord had "generously" bestowed upon josh - although in reality, it was just about to be passed off to distant scrap piles and the landlord figured he might as well curry some favor with one of his moodier tenants.

josh absentmindedly clicked his phone's power button.

2 _:15 a.m._  
no messages.

 _fuck,_ josh muttered, tensely running his fingers through his crimson hair, angrily eyeing the flakes of dandruff that fell down.  _when did half an hour pass?_ not that this was an unusual feeling. he shook his head, looking over to a wall where his sort-of-friend, sort-of-hookup had drunkenly scribbled in sharpie the other night: "its said that a war's lead, but i forget that ive let another day go by."

and josh sighed.

vision refocusing and white dandruff again in view, he made a mental note to wash his hair, finally; also to actually pay that one other guy back for his booze the other night; also to apologize for standing up that last band rehearsal, and the one before that, and ...

and then, aching for distraction again, he glanced at his phone again. when was that tyler kid from downstairs going to reply?

7:36 a.m. / may 24th  
j:  _hey. killer hangover up in room 93. lmao_  
j:  _last night was something._  
j:  _something good._  
j:  _can i get to know you? sober this time._

2:42 a.m. / may 30th  
j:  _i could even just swing by urs if that makes it easier._  
j:  _or whatever. lmk._


	3. day five⇅twice as far.

tyler lay on his formerly white carpet, now riddled with coffee and ink stains. he stared at his apartment's cheap popcorn ceiling, apparently focusing so hard that a piece of ceiling came loose and fell directly into his eye. tearing up out of anger -  _god. why?_ \- and involuntary response, he wiped at his eye and sat up, looking blankly at the wall for a few moments.

he threw a look over to where he needed to be - his desk, which held stacks of readings he should have been done days ago - and in response, rolled over to the opposite side of the room. he dragged himself over to his bed, leaning over to the side to find his notebook and uke. instead, he accidentally picked up his phone, which he hadn't looked at in days.

he tried to click it on and exasperatedly sighed when, unsurprisingly, it flashed the empty battery screen. he fumbled around in his nightstand looking for a charger, eventually finding one and plugging his phone in. remembering his original goal, he lowered himself from the bed to the floor, hunting beneath the bedframe. he eventually settled for his embarrassingly old notebook and a pen he'd gotten for free three years ago at some college's open house, not finding the uke in this corner of his apartment.

tyler leaned against his cream-colored wall, ignoring the noisiness of the neighbors behind the sheet of drywall. he chewed gently at his pencap before writing.

5/30  
\- i am disappearing inside my birdseye theories. why is it that everything looks so different up close?  
(have you ever done that? when you squint ur eyes. and you find out; you're not who you're supposed to be?)  
\- this is not what i had planned.

he stared at the words, mentally critiquing them before stopping himself and slamming the wrinkled leather cover shut. in a moment of uncharacteristic clarity, he'd written parts of a song he called  _ode to sleep_  the month before, and had been trying to write anything even comparable to it since then. he thought about how pointless this pursuit was. no one would ever see these pages; he'd set them on fire before that ever happened.

he heard his phone vibrate gently, signaling its resurrection. he scooted over to the nightstand, picking up his phone and swiping it unlocked.

5:12 p.m.  
10 messages

 _huh._ tyler pulled down the notification display, looking through the previews so he wouldn't leave any read receipts.

7:36 a.m. / may 24th  
josh dun:  _hey. killer hangover up in room 93. lmao_  
josh dun:  _last night was something._  
josh dun:  _something good._

he thought it was good? it was a fine drunk makeout session, but tyler had assumed that their talks about life and sadness had put a damper on the entire situation. he sighed.

josh dun:  _can i get to know you? sober this time._

tyler's breath hitched. was this kid for real?

_3 missed calls; dad_

oh no.

3:45 p.m. / may 26th   
zack attack: Hey ty. Dads been tryna call u.... says he cant get ahold of u? Lmk.

2:42 a.m. / today  
j:  _i could even just swing by urs if that makes it easier._  
j:  _or whatever. lmk._

tyler heard footsteps. he went to lock the door.


End file.
